We Drop the Needle on Another Sad Excuse for an Audiophile Pressing

More on the Subject of Half-Speed Mastering

This is an A&M Audiophile Sampler, made in Canada and pressed on Japanese vinyl .

There is a bit of a story behind this title. It’s not the kind of record we normally would buy or bother to play.

A customer had emailed us about saying it sounded great. It was cheap so we grabbed one for fun. Our notes read:

  • Sucked out middle
  • Clean and hard (maybe like a CD?)
  • This sucks

Hard to imagine one of our customers liked the sound of this pressing, but one of them did, so make of that what you will.

(more…)

Love in Vain Is a Great Test Track on Let It Bleed

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Rolling Stones Available Now

Love In Vain is our favorite test track for side one on Let It Bleed.

The first minute or so clues you into to everything that’s happening in the sound.

Listen for the amazing immediacy, transparency and sweetly extended harmonics of the guitar in the left channel.

Next, when Watts starts slapping that big fat snare in the right channel, it should sound so real you could reach out and touch it.

If you’re like me, that Tubey magical acoustic guitar sound and the rich whomp of the snare should be all the evidence you need that Glyn Johns is one of the Five Best Rock Engineers who ever lived. Ken Scott, Stephen Barncard, Alan Parsons and a few others are right up there with him of course. We audiophiles are very lucky to have had guys like those around when the Stones were at their writing and performing peak.

(more…)

Letter of the Week – “Absolutely slayed me, with your copy of Bad Company’s debut album…”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Bad Company Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased years ago:

Hey Tom, 

So yeah, you folks have DONE IT AGAIN. Absolutely slayed me, with your copy of Bad Company’s debut album – and in particular, “Seagull” – which is simply the finest rendering of it I’ve ever heard. Sat there like the blubbering old fool that I am. Fantastic stuff. And DEAD silent vinyl.

You folks ROCK. Truly, THANK YOU. 🙏💕☺

Steve

Steve,

That’s great to hear. An amazing recording when you can hear it right!

(more…)

Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey

More of the Music of Van Morrison

  • This original WB Green Label pressing is chock full of that vintage Tubey Magic we prize so highly here at Better Records, earning STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them on both sides
  • “Wild Night” and the title track sound wonderfully rich and full-bodied, with the warmth and naturalness that distinguishes a merely good sounding LP from a truly outstanding Hot Stamper copy like the one we’re offering here
  • 4 1/2 stars on AllMusic and featuring some of Stephen Barncard‘s best engineering – this is analog sound at its best
  • “Tupelo Honey is in one sense but another example of the artist making increased use of the album as the unit of communication as opposed to merely the song or the cut. Everything on it is perfectly integrated.”

There are actually real dynamics on this recording, which really helps kick up the life force of the music. Just listen to the energetic build-up during “Wild Night” — that’s how it would happen in a live setting, and that’s the way we want to hear it at home as well.

If you’ve been stuck with the average copy of any of the classic albums Van put out in the ’70s you would have no way of knowing just how well-recorded some of them are.

Our favorite Morrison record for sound is still His Band And The Street Choir, but after finishing this shootout we now know that the best copies of Tupelo Honey are in that same league. The title track (just to take one example) can sound exceptionally sweet, delicate, and Tubey Magical. For that, you can thank Stephen Barncard. If you know his work, it’s easy to spot his sound.

(more…)

Miles Davis / Bitches Brew

More of the Music of Miles Davis

  • A stunning Stereo 360 copy of this 2 LP set with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on sides one, two, and three, and solid Double Plus (A++) sound on side four
  • These sides are clean, clear, lively and present with an abundance of space around all of the players
  • You can hear right into the soundfield, and you can be sure that there’s a whole lot more going on in there than you can bring out, but that’s what makes audio fun
  • Improving your playback can reveal more and more of what’s always been in the grooves of your records
  • This is not an easy album to find in clean condition, let alone a copy that sounds like this and plays reasonably well throughout
  • If jazz-fusion is your bag, all four sides will take you on a trip like few other records can
  • As is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, there are marks that play – those on “Bitches Brew” and “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
  • 5 stars: “Thought by many to be the most revolutionary album in jazz history, having virtually created the genre known as jazz-rock fusion (for better or worse) and being the jazz album to most influence rock and funk musicians, Bitches Brew is, by its very nature, mercurial.”
  • We have two new lists for those who would like to know which Columbia labels win shootouts — one for 6-Eye winners and one for 360 Label winners.

The incredible musicianship and Teo Macero’s innovative production each help take these jazz-fusion soundscapes to places most folks had never imagined before. And a copy like this one takes the entire production to a whole new level. I can’t begin to tell you how many crappy copies have hit our table over the years, but after finding this one I’m really glad we never gave up on this album.

I remember buying this record when I was in college and I had a hell of a time trying to make any sense of it. I also bought the first two Weather Report albums and had a hell of a time with those. But then when Sweetnighter came out, which was angular but still accessible, this kind of music started to make sense to me. This is music for those who want to be challenged. It’s as true today as it was 53 years ago when this record came out.

Our favorite track on this album, “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down,” is found on the Double Plus (A++) side four, which means the sound for it is OUTSTANDING.

(more…)

Mendelssohn – Symphonies No. 4 (“Italian”) and 5 (“Reformation”) / Munch

More Classical and Orchestral Recordings

  • Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s dynamic and lively performance, here with a KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two of this vintage Living Stereo reissue pressing
  • It took us about a decade to finally realize that the Shaded Dog pressings, no matter what stampers they had, would simply never sound the way we wanted them to, and that the only way forward was to track down the right reissues, which I am happy to report we have now succeeded in doing
  • These sides are doing practically everything right – they’re rich, clear, undistorted, open, spacious, and have depth and transparency to rival the best recordings you may have heard
  • An abundance of energy, loads of rich detail and texture, and excellent clarity – the very definition of Demo Disc sound
  • There are some bad marks (as is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs) on the third movement of Symphony No. 4 (“Italian”), but once you hear just how incredible sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and just be swept away by the music

(more…)

What to Listen For on Midnight Love

Hot Stamper Pressings of Soul, Blues, R&B, etc. Available Now

UPDATE 2026

In 2002 we put up a 3/3 copy of Midnight Love that really knocked our socks off. We wrote:

With two STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides, this Midnight Love is certainly as good a copy as we have ever heard – exceptionally quiet vinyl too.

Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this amazing copy in our notes: “round and punchy”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”good size and weight”…”spacious and relaxed percussion and vox”…”top detail” (side two).

Drop the needle on Sexual Healing then sit back and relax as the rich, warm sound of analog sets the mood.

There’s good frequency extension up top and down low, with plenty of meaty bass and silky highs (just check out those bells).

What made it so good? Glad you asked!

This copy has two qualities which are essential if this music is to  work its soulful magic: silky vocals and a big meaty bottom end.

Check out all the texture to the synths on Turn On Some Music – this is a highly resolving pressing which takes Marvin Gaye’s music — the last he would make before his death — to another level.

(more…)

James Taylor / Dad Loves His Work

More of the Music of James Taylor

  • This original Columbia pressing of JT’s 1981 release boasts incredible Shootout Winning sound
  • Both of these sides are exceptionally rich, Tubey Magical and spacious – thanks, Val Garay!
  • We were knocked out at how good this album sounds on a great pressing like this one – one of the more impressive 80s pop recordings we’ve played in some time
  • The sound may be heavily processed, but that kind of sound works surprisingly well on the highest quality pressings
  • 4 stars: “James Taylor bounced back from the spotty Flag with this all-original album led by his collaboration with J.D. Souther on ‘Her Town Too,’ his biggest pop hit since ‘Handy Man,’ and his biggest non-cover hit since his first, ‘Fire And Rain’…”
  • If you’re a fan of JT’s, or Folky Pop in general, this has to be seen as a top title from 1981.
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” but with less of an accent on morbidity and more on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life. Dad Loves His Work is a good example of a record many audiophiles would benefit from knowing better.

The soundstage and depth on our best Hot Stamper copies is HUGE — this is without a doubt the most spacious recording by James Taylor we’ve ever heard. If you want your speakers to disappear, replaced by a huge studio full of musicians playing their hearts out, this is the album that can do it.

(more…)

Who By Numbers on Classic Records Heavy Vinyl

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Who Available Now

It’s not just bass that separates the real thing from the Classic Reissue. It’s weight, fullness, the part of the frequency range from the lower midrange to the upper bass, the area spanning roughly 150 to 600 cycles.

It’s what makes Daltry’s voice sound full and rich, not thin and modern.

It’s what makes the drums solid and fat the way Glyn Johns intended.

The good copies of Who’s Next and Quadrophenia have plenty of muscle in this area, and so do the imports we played.

But not the Classic. Oh no, so much of what gives Who By Numbers its Classic Rock sound has been equalized right out of the Heavy Vinyl reissue by Chris Bellman at BG’s mastering house.

(more…)

Don Sebesky Is One of Our Favorite Arrangers

“Don Sebesky is best known as house arranger for many of producer Creed Taylor’s Verve, A&M, and CTI productions — the man whose orchestral backgrounds helped make artists like Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Freddie Hubbard, and George Benson acceptable to audiences outside of jazz.

“He has taken critical heat for this, but Sebesky’s arrangements have usually been among the classiest in his field, reflecting a solid knowledge of the orchestra, drawing variously from big band jazz, rock, ethnic music, classical music of all eras, and even the avant-garde for ideas. He once cited Bartok as his favorite composer, but one also hears lots of Stravinsky in his work.

(more…)